"Establishing our corporate home in Bermuda is a natural step for XL. XL has had a presence in Bermuda since 1986, which grew significantly following the transformative transaction with Bermuda-based Catlin last year," said XL's chief executive officer, Michael S McGavick.

XL does not expect the redomestication to have any material impact on its financial results, including the company's global effective tax rate.

The move was facilitated after European authorities agreed to accept that insurers regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority operate under rules fully equivalent to the Solvency II regime in place here, removing XL's need to base operations inside the European Union. XL said it expects to submit the proposal for redomestication to shareholders in the coming months and to complete the transaction in the third quarter of this year. The move is subject to regulatory approvals, a shareholder vote and must also be sanctioned by the High Court of Ireland, XL said.

The company was originally set up in the Cayman Islands and listed in New York but shifted its domicile to Ireland in 2010, in a move that brought its headquarters under the European regulatory regime.

In 2013 the group moved into a swish Irish headquarters on St Stephen's Green, in a restored Georgian mansion that had been the headquarters of the Hibernian and United Services Club.

XL Group is a global insurance and reinsurance company providing property, casualty and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world.

At the end of 2014 the business managed assets of $45bn, shareholder equity amounts to $11.4bn and revenues last year were $6.6bn.